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Set up production processes in a warehouse

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Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

Note

This topic applies to features in the Warehouse management module. It does not apply to features in the Inventory management module.

This topic provides an overview of how to set up production processes in Warehouse management. The sections describe the setup that is needed for releasing a production order, reserving raw materials, and creating work for picking raw materials and putting away finished goods. Additionally, this topic contains information about how to configure a mobile device to start production and report quantities as finished.

Prerequisites

The following table shows the prerequisites that must be in place before you start.

Category

Prerequisite

Items and warehouses

All items and warehouses must be enabled for warehouse management processes.

Bill of materials

The finished good must be associated with a bill of materials and a route.

Route

The item and the resource that will produce the item must be associated with a route.

Location

Locations must be created in the warehouse where the production will occur.

Production waves, reserving raw materials, and releasing production orders

The type of work uses the functionality in the Production control module for creating production orders. For more information, see About the production process. However, some additional setup is required if you use warehouse management processes for production. This section provides an overview of the additional setup that is needed for creating picking work and reserving raw materials.

Production waves

After a production order is created and estimated, it can be released to production. When an order is released, the lines in the bill of materials (BOM) for the item that is being produced can be assigned to a production wave. Only BOM lines with a reserved quantity can be assigned to a production wave. Picking work is created for production orders by a wave template, which uses the work template and location directives to create the work for the wave lines. Production waves do not contain shipments or loads. As with other types of waves, you can automate the creation, assignment, processing, and release of picking work for production orders. For more information, see Create a wave template.

Reserving raw materials

The difference between production waves and kanban or shipment waves is that you can allow production waves to be released to the warehouse without fully reserving inventory. Waves for shipments and kanbans require that all items or materials be reserved before a wave can be released to the warehouse to create work. For example, if enough materials are available to start a production, but not enough to complete it, you can wait until the remaining materials arrive.

You can specify the requirements for reservations in the Reservation field in the Production orders form. This is where you set the reservation requirement for a specific production order. You can also specify the default reservation requirement for all production orders in the Reservation field in the Production control parameters form. The Reservation field options are as follows:

  • Require full reservation – Select this option if you want to create wave lines and picking work only if all of the materials that are required by a production order can be reserved when the order is released. If all of the materials are not available, wave lines and work are not created. However, the status of the order will change to Released.

  • Allow partial reservation – Select this option if you want to create wave lines even though some of the materials that are required by a production order are not available when the order is released. If the materials become available later, you can release the order again by using the Release to warehouse button.

Note

If enough materials are already at the resource when the wave is processed, picking work is not created. This same is true if the user specified a location on the BOM line, the inventory that is in the specified location is consumed, and no picking work is created.

Releasing production orders

In the Production orders form, you can use the following buttons to release an order:

  • Release – Release the order to the warehouse and create wave lines for the BOM items. You can also create the associated production documents, such as job cards and route cards.

  • Release to warehouse - Create a wave line for any reserved quantity on the BOM lines that is not already associated with a wave line. This button is used when the production order has a status of Released, and you must release additional materials to the warehouse.

Specify the default location where finished goods are staged

You must specify the default location in the warehouse where finished goods are staged before they are put away to inventory.

To specify the default location to stage finished goods, follow these steps:

  1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Warehouse setup > Warehouses.

  2. Select or create a new warehouse.

  3. On the Inventory and warehouse management tab, in the Default production finished goods location field, select the default location to use for finished goods.

Specify the input location for the resource that will consume the materials

You must specify input location for the resource that will be used in the production process. You specify the input location on the resource group that the resource is assigned to. The resource group must be at a site that is enabled for warehouse management processes.

To specify an input location for a resource, follow these steps:

  1. Click Organization administration > Common > Resources > Resource groups.

  2. On the General tab, select the input warehouses and locations in the Locations field group.

  3. The remaining steps for this procedure also apply to other resource groups. For more information, see Set up and define resource groups for operations resources.

Set up a wave template to process production or kanban waves

You must set up a wave template to define the order in which the picking work is created for the production. You can set up the wave template to create work automatically when a line is created for a wave, or when a worker processes a wave.

To set up a wave template for production waves or kanban waves, follow these steps:

  1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Waves > Wave templates.

  2. Click New to create a new wave template.

  3. In the Wave template type field, select one of the following options.

    Option

    Description

    Production orders

    Use the wave template to move materials for production orders to the input location for the resource that is used in production.

    Kanban

    Use the wave template to move materials for kanban orders.

  4. The remaining steps for this procedure also apply to other wave templates. For more information, see Create a wave template.

Specify where to pick raw materials from, and where to put away finished goods

You must set up location directives to specify the locations from which to pick the raw materials for a production and the input location to put them in.

To specify locations for picking raw materials and putting them in an input location, follow these steps:

  1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Location directives.

  2. In the Work order type field, select the type of inventory transaction to create a location directive for.

    Note

    If you have installed Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 8, you can direct raw materials to the operation that will consume them on a route. For more information, see the “Direct raw materials to the operations that consume them” section later in this topic.

    In AX 2012 R3 CU8, the Production order put away and Batch order put away work order types are replaced by Finished goods put away and Co-product and by-product put away. These work order types function in the same way as the work order types that they replaced.

    Option

    Description

    Raw material picking

    Use to determine the location where the raw materials for a production order are picked from.

    Production order put away

    Use to determine the location where the finished goods will be put away in inventory.

    This control is available only in versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 prior to AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 8.

    Batch order put away

    Use to determine the location where the finished batches will be put away in inventory.

    This control is available only in versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 prior to AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 8.

    Kanban picking

    Use to determine the location where the raw materials for a kanban order are picked from.

    Kanban picking

    Use to determine the location where the finished goods will be put away in inventory.

  3. The remaining steps for this procedure also apply to other location directives. For more information, see Create a location directive.

Define how to create work for raw material picking and finished good put away

You must set up a work template to create the work for picking the raw materials for a production and for putting away the finished good in inventory.

Note

If you have installed AX 2012 R3 CU8, you can create and direct work as follows:

  • Direct raw materials to the route operation that consumes them. For more information, see the “Direct raw materials to the operations that consume them” section in this topic.

  • Create put away work for a finished good, co-product, or by-product when you report a production or batch as finished. For more information, see the “Direct work to put away finished goods from the last operation on a production route” section in this topic.

In AX 2012 R3 CU8, the Production order put away and Batch order put away work order types are replaced by Finished goods put away and Co-product and by-product put away. These work order types function in the same way as the work order types that they replaced.

To set up a work template for raw material picking and finished good put away, follow these steps:

  1. Click Warehouse management > Setup > Work > Work templates.

  2. In the Work order type field, select the type of warehouse transaction to create a work template for.

    Option

    Description

    Raw material picking

    Create picking work for a production order.

    Production order put away

    Create put away work for a production order.

    This control is available only in versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 prior to AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 8.

    Batch order put away

    Create put away work for a batch order.

    This control is available only in versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 prior to AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 8.

    Kanban picking

    Create picking work for a kanban order.

    Kanban picking

    Create put away work for a kanban order.

  3. The remaining steps for this procedure also apply to other work templates. For more information, see Create a work template.

Direct raw materials to the operations that consume them

If you have installed AX 2012 R3 CU8, you can direct raw materials to the operation that will consume them on a route. For example, this is useful when you have a large facility where operations are performed in different rooms. The following table describes the information that is required for setup.

Setup

Description

BOM line

You must associate items that are included in the bill of materials for the released product with the operation that will consume them. This makes the connection between the raw material or item and the route.

You assign the bill of material item to the operation in the BOM line form, on the General tab, by selecting the operation in the Oper. No. field.

If you do not relate materials to operations, the materials are delivered to the input location for the resource for the first operation on the route. By relating raw materials to operations, you indicate that the material is used only for the operation. This is independent of the resource that performs the operation. Materials are always delivered first to the primary operation.

Route

On the route, you must specify the resource requirement for a resource or resource group. This connects the resource or resource group to the route. On the resource group, you specify the input warehouse and input location. If you specify an input location on the resource, this will override the input location on the resource group.

Warehouses

Optional: You can specify the default input location for the warehouse in the Warehouses form. For more information, see the “Specify the default location where finished goods are staged” section in this topic.

This input location is used only if an input warehouse is not specified for the resource group that is selected as a resource requirement for the route. This location will be applied if no input location has been specified for the resource group that is assigned to the first operation on the route.

Work classes

You must create a work class for the raw materials work order type. You assign the work class to the work template and the mobile device menu item for raw material picking.

Work templates

You must set up a work template for raw material picking. In the Work templates form, when you select Raw material picking in the Work order type field, sorting criteria is added to the query, and a grouping is added to the work breaks for the template. You cannot change these. For the work break sorting order, mandatory sorting criteria must be higher than non-mandatory sorting criteria.

Configure a mobile device to start productions, and report quantities as finished

After the raw materials have been moved to the input location for the resource that will consume them, you can start the production order. You can do this by using the Production orders form or by using a mobile device. To start a production order on a mobile device, the device must be configured appropriately. For more information, see Configure mobile devices for warehouse work.

To report goods as finished, the mobile device can be configured to do the following:

  • Report a quantity of the production as finished, and create put away work that another worker will perform.

  • Report a quantity of the production as finished, and put away the finished good immediately. The worker who reports the quantity as finished will also put away the goods in inventory.

The put away location can be determined by the worker or by Microsoft Dynamics AX, as follows:

  • The worker reports the production as finished, and can decide where to put the finished good. Using this method requires a mobile device menu item that is set up to be user directed.

  • The worker reports the production as finished, and is directed to put the finished good in a location. Using this method requires a mobile device menu item that is set up to be system directed.

Note

If you are using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 9 it’s possible to enable overproduction scenarios when reporting as finished with a mobile device. To do this, select the Validate feedback quantity and Accept surplus production parameters on the Production parameters form. If these parameters are selected, the report as finished process will complete even if the quantity is greater than the start quantity as long as it’s not greater than the start quantity plus the accepted surplus quantity.

Direct work to put away finished goods from the last operation on a production route

If you are running AX 2012 R3 CU8, you can set up a work template to create work to put away finished goods and co-products and by-products from the last operation on a particular production route. For example, this is useful when you have more than one production route in a warehouse.

You can create put away work for finished goods by using either a mobile device or using the Microsoft Dynamics AX client to report a production as finished.

The following table lists the required setup. For each step, the key is the Work order type field. Depending on whether you need to put away finished goods, or co-products or by-products, select either Finished goods put away or Co-product and by-product put away.

Prerequisite

Description

Work classes

You need to create work classes for finished goods put-away, and co-product and by-product put away. You specify the work class on the work template.

Work templates

You need to set up a work template to create the put away work. You have to assign the work class to the pick and put lines for each work order type. For more information, see Create a work template.

Location directives

Set up a location directive for each work order type. For more information, see Create a location directive.

Tip

You can set up the query on the Location directives FastTab to put away finished goods, co-products, and by-products in specific locations. When you select a work order type, the query is optimized for the selected type. Use the criteria to direct the put away work to a location.

Example

This example shows how to set up location directive queries to put away co-products and by-products in specific locations.

  1. On the Range tab, add the following criteria to the query:

    1. Table – Select Production co-by products

    2. Derived table – Select Production co-by products.

    3. Derived table – Select Production co-by products.

    4. Field- Select Production type.

    5. Criteria – Select or By-Co-product

  2. To direct the put away work to a specific location, set up the query on the Location directive actions FastTab.

  3. Enter the criteria for the warehouse and location, and then click Add.

    1. Field - Select Location profile ID.

    2. Criteria – Select the location profile.

Technical information for system administrators

If you don't have access to the pages that are used to complete this task, contact your system administrator and provide the information that is shown in the following table.

Category

Prerequisite

Configuration keys

Click System administration > Setup > Licensing > License configuration. Expand the Trade license key, and select the Warehouse and Transportation management configuration key.